The press conference of the chairman of the Socialist Party began 20 minutes late. The reason was that the television crew, which had been notified about this event, did not show up to film it. In the news bulletins of this state information institution, footage has also been broadcast of activities such as the meeting of the DP youth forum, etc. We are not against TV broadcasting these activities too, if it does broadcast them, provided the program also contains news, naturally, if its statute requires it, as well as information from Parliament. But unfortunately this statute is violated at both extremes: things that should not be shown are shown, and things that should be shown are not. We think the press conference of the SP, as the second-largest party in the country and a parliamentary party, should be covered accurately and with footage by our television news media. This further strengthens the conviction that TVSH continues to censor and remains completely partisan. — How much longer will this go on?! Or until after the new election campaign...

On July 26, elections will be held for the bodies of local government. The Socialist Party enters this election campaign as a serious political force, with clearly defined objectives. As was emphasized at its First Congress, it aims in these elections to win at least 50 percent of the seats in communes, municipalities and districts. This is an ambitious objective, but entirely achievable. What are some of the measures and actions the party should undertake in this regard? We think it is necessary to clarify the measures concerning the role and new structure of local government bodies. This means that the masses should understand that local government bodies operate on the basis of self-government and local autonomy; that is, under the new law of Parliament, they are granted broad powers they did not have before. Under these circumstances, it is essential that the best, most serious and most worthy people be elected to these bodies—people of whom the Socialist Party has plenty. This must be made clear to the people for another reason as well: those who currently hold central power will try to propagate that local power should be exercised by their candidates. This requires the party’s organizations and bodies to begin selecting candidates today, both for the multi-name list of council members and for candidates for commune and municipal chairpersons. To this end, meetings of all party organizations must be held, where candidates and potential candidates are discussed in a democratic spirit and with a sense of responsibility. At this stage, the work of the party’s governing councils in the areas to draw up the final candidate lists is also decisive. After the candidates are approved, it is very important to promote their qualities among the people, highlight their merits and explain the alternatives proposed by Socialist Party councillors for solving the main problems of the commune and municipality. In parallel with this work, party organizations, area governing councils and PS district governing committees must identify the people who will represent the party on election commissions, as members of those commissions and as observers. This must be given special attention. Let us not allow a repeat of the irregularities of March 22! Just as important is the scrutiny by party members and sympathizers of the candidate-selection process and of the organizations and bodies of local government. This role is particularly important... experience also teaches us lessons in this regard. No resident of a village or town should be left off the voter lists. In particular, efforts by representatives of other political forces to leave our party’s members and sympathizers off the voter lists must be prevented. The party leadership at the center and in the districts, the party press, the Euro-socialist youth organization, the socialist women’s organization, etc., have important tasks in this election campaign. Proper coordination among them will make it possible to bring this important campaign to a successful conclusion and achieve the objective set by the Congress. It must be made clear to everyone that our new democracy needs a stable political balance, which is lacking today. ...that the best, most serious and most worthy people for the people should be elected to these bodies; the Socialist Party has many such people. reason as well: those who hold central power today will try to promote the idea that local power should be taken by those who also hold power at the center. This propaganda, which began some time ago, is expected to intensify in the future. People must be informed so that they are not frightened and psychologically terrorized by the cynical propaganda, “If you vote for the PS, you will be left without bread.” They will surround the municipality (or the town hall) with barbed wire, and so on. These electoral statements that have begun to be heard may seem absurd, but some people are taken in by them! They must be clarified, and clarified well. There is no time. Not an hour should be wasted. All socialists, especially intellectuals, must get involved. In the elections of 26 July, the councils of the communes, municipalities and districts will be elected; these councils will be elected through the proportional system (people will vote for parties, not specific individuals). The chairmen of communes and municipalities will be elected through the majoritarian system (by voting for their names).

— Press conference by the chairman of the PSSH, Comrade Fatos Nano, given yesterday at the Palace of Congresses — Journalists from Radio and the press, as well as ambassadors and officials of diplomatic missions accredited in Tirana, were present. I would like to stress that, overall, the First Congress of the PSSH achieved the objectives it had set itself. First, by bringing to completion the process of forming the SP as a new party of European orientation and of the democratic left. This is supported by the assessments of the entire process of analyses and elections at the grassroots and at the Congress, aimed at completing the structure and ideas of the Party’s body of 100,000 members around its program and the alternatives it contains. The Congress reaffirmed the broad familiarity of the Party’s members and sympathizers with its ideological foundations and basic Program, which is nothing other than a continuation of the ideology and reformist ideas proclaimed since the time of the Second International. At the Congress, the role and constructive initiatives undertaken over the past year, since its formation, by the PSSH were widely acknowledged, assessed and substantiated: in the country’s democratic processes, in opening up to the world, and in Albania’s admission to international organizations that help affirm a new society and its political will to keep pace with the world. This role is particularly — it had set itself. We aimed for a politician [text unclear] as much as possible, amid bloody social conflicts, the periodic difficulties of the transition we are going through, and contributions that will continue on our part in the future. Expressing realistically one of the Congress’s most significant results, I would stress that it demonstrates a new level of political attentiveness, democratic culture and commitment among Albanian socialists to put forward the most realistic possible alternatives for solving the problems of managing today’s crisis and advancing as quickly as possible the reforms that are so necessary. Conditions have now matured for the socialist and social-democratic alternative to become a movement with broader social support, in order to establish the balances needed to transform Albanian society. The Congress reaffirmed the PSSH’s principled position, which is also its programmatic position, of openness and readiness for political cooperation and understanding with the country’s other political forces, for the benefit of advancing reforms and securing a social consensus that would not obstruct them. But we believe that, at present, this position cannot be achieved through any of the possible democratic forms with extremist right-wing or left-wing forces, which endanger the healthy development of democracy in Albania. On the basis of the Party’s renewed organizational strength, better knowledge of its program among members and sympathizers, and the real prospects of putting forward capable candidates in the competition for the forthcoming local elections, [we have] numbers and objectives that are entirely achievable, with victories in nearly half the communes and municipalities. Finally, the delegations of parties of the European democratic left that took part in the Congress, and the messages from our counterparts that arrived, confirmed the process of contacts, ties, support and solidarity with this European and international movement that has begun, as well as the real possibilities for the PSSH to take its rightful place in the Socialist International. Thank you! Question: What is your Party’s position on resolving the national question? What is the PSSH’s view of the blockade involving those who are under investigation? What will happen to Ramiz Alia, who, according to the audit report, is again implicated in abuses and ranks second? Fatos Nano: Regarding the first question, the Party’s principled position, including its details, has been expressed in its basic programs and in a series of documents supporting positive developments for the benefit of resolving the national question in Kosovo and in the other Albanian territories in Yugoslavia, etc. It has been consistently made public. At our Congress, the principle was emphasized that the Albanian national question cannot be resolved outside the spirit and principles of the CSCE and other acts that have helped resolve such problems in the current circumstances of the disintegration of the former communist empires, in the USSR or Yugoslavia. We believe that the principle of the inviolability of borders is not incompatible with recognition of the right to self-determination, both for others and for the Albanian population in Kosovo and other parts of Yugoslavia, although the territorial reorganization of the Balkans, known for its complexity, would not have only— ...terrible ... in Serbia... that a pact... was also Bosnia... a conflict... as for Sali... with Hungary... and troops... in Kosovo... Vojvod... has made... the border file... Himself... entrance to... On Sunday... Tanju... has removed... its territory... realiz... place... in Kosovo... of Belgrade... ...of securing that social-democratic consensus which it published. But this... ...national issue? What is the PSSH’s opinion of the former Communist Bloc members who

— The head of the Public Order Department in Skrapar, Gjon Mark Suli, appointed three months ago, has been dismissed because he “didn’t give the car to the chairman of the district Executive Committee to meet with the prime minister” — At the Public Order Department in Skrapar, on Monday, 22 June 1992, at 14:00, the personnel director of the MRP communicated the order of the minister of this department, which said, more or less: Gjon Mark Suli, head of the Public Order Department, is dismissed because he gave the car to the delegates of the PS to go to the Congress. This is not the place to emphasize the merits of this head of public order, appointed to this position after the unrest that took place in the city of Çorovodë, or the courage of this 30-year-old from Mirdita who works devotedly in Skrapar. But let us focus on the facts. On Saturday, 20 June 1992, after many phone calls to Prime Minister Meksi went unanswered, I set off to meet him at the prime minister’s office. For this, I asked the head of public order for a vehicle and travelled to Tirana. I met with the prime minister about the strike-related problems at the Policant Combine, and after that I ended up... at the Tirana road inspectorate, where a report was drawn up (they told us this was on instructions from the MRP), stating that the Public Order Department’s car was in use. The chairman of the district Executive Committee had come to Skrapar in it. “As chairman, you have the right to use the car,” the head of the public order staff and chairman of the district Executive Committee told me informally... “but we are obliged to draw up a report in accordance with the order...” Mr. Kopliku, with whom I debated... the dismissal of the head of the Public Order Department, does not care at all about the report drawn up by his subordinates. He is threatening... (Continued on page 2)

The humorist who once published the feuilleton “Two Legs in One Door” had not considered that the list did not take into account that it had put two people with the same first and last name on the SH.K.K. When it was read out that both “Kambër”s were to be cut, one after the other, the boss was included. Both claim to be the whole thing. They were trying to find a way to tell them apart from ... But the list doesn’t have ... It is enough to say ... Written ... “Two Legs in One Door” and the PD. Who had given ... The more democratic thing would have been to draw lots, “which one or the other”; write me a letter with a hole in it. But these things are recorded in the SHK-u documents. So both plead for democracy. Will one of them be laid off? But which one is it? Both dream. Both try to explain... when they are apart, but how can SHIK-u be split up?! They are all professionals. ... People are a list. People are a list. ... BRANO DUNAVATI

Everyone in Dibër now knows that when the PS, so-called “in power” (although it had 7 of the 15 members in the committee), insisted on enforcing the law, the opposition PD did nothing but obstruct. Before an election campaign, the PD put forward an opinion entirely contrary to the law. Its leaders, starting with Mr. Zhulali, now Minister of Defence (who still holds the post of chairman of the PD branch in the district), and other PD members, at rallies would wish people: “Enjoy your land,” while afterwards preaching, “Everyone should have their own land.” The poor people still vividly remember the great pressure exerted on them. In response to the PD leaders’ “reasoning” that “a Dibër resident doesn’t take someone else’s land and everyone in Dibër wants to go to their own land,” dozens of petitions and farmers’ calculations were submitted, insistently demanding that the land law be enforced. A fiasco for the PD. From the enforcement of the law in Dibër, ...

...would benefit 80–90 percent of farming families. If the land had been divided when the farmers were putting on pressure, there would have been time to plough and sow, ensuring the 1992 harvest and part of the 1993 one. But the PD, having satisfied the appetite of the groups that actually benefited, ignored the people’s interests, for whom it “pleads” night and day. Countless barns and social-economic facilities have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of head of livestock have been stolen. A veritable massacre at the people’s expense. Oh, not even the Serb who burned Dibër three times managed to cause as much havoc as this devastation, which has brought things down to “zero”! “The socialists, the crypto-communists, did it...” say the PD members. No, gentlemen. In the name of truth, the PD must take responsibility for this horrific massacre. You want facts. Oli is there to list them all; even four pages of the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” would not be enough. To make things easier, we will recommend to you a...

Opposite the PD building are the Agricultural Bank and the Investigation Department; next door is the Public Order Department, and a little farther down are the court and the prosecutor’s office. The truth is in their files. There, in the lists of those who have been plundered down to the same “zero,” are not only PD members and supporters, but also PD section chairmen. Let them have the courage, then, to publish the truth. Enough of tricks and excuses. Like the government today, without trembling at the thought that you are striking yourselves, make sure that the sword of justice falls mercilessly on the people’s thieves. Through its stance, the PD left hundreds of families in Dibër without land, despite their need. But because the people of Dibër loved their birthplace, they built ... around 800–900 houses ... per year. Now, with the wealth the PD created through its implementation of the land law, an illegal hemorrhage ... of people from Dibër away from their homes has begun. Oh, it breaks your heart! (Continued on page 3) VILLAGE DRAMA

— Continuing the “Hajdari” issue — (Since television broadcast the exchanges about Mr. Hajdari’s departure in full, we are giving only some of them.) EDUART SELAMI This is not the place to politicize A. Hajdari’s departure. And he asked me for permission to leave for training in the USA... why is this issue being instrumentalized and dramatized? GAQO APOSTOLI I applauded because I appreciate A. Hajdari’s important role. But another issue concerns me. There is a lack of transparency about many things. Such departures should not happen. What is going on? Azem Hajdari belongs to Albania. We must show reality as it is, and as much of it as is our responsibility to show. DEPUTY BALLA — I think the pathos with which Mr. Pashko spoke does not enhance his standing. He left so that his image would suit the times. DEPUTY MARKU The issue we are discussing is important. There are the big bells and the little bells here. Let us hear the big bells first, and then the little bells. DEPUTY LULI There is no reason for emotion! One [reason] for his departure. He truly is an initiator of the cause of democracy, and nobody questions that. But I do not think Mr. Hajdari made Albania democratic by being at the head of the movement. Albania became democratic because the time had come for this movement to take place. Let us not attribute too much to people who do not deserve it. Heroes are heroes when they withstand the test of time. DEPUTY BALETA Parliament is no place for a variety show. Someone may be offended, but we must be serious.